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Labor senator Kim Carr. Photo: Lukas Coch/AAP
what the institution had advised us they
have seen,” Emery said.
“There may be circumstances where
we follow up with further requests
for information if we don’t think [the
universities] have pursued all of the issues
they should have pursued.”
Carr also queried ARC representatives
on why they did not investigate or respond
to serious foreign interference allegations
Why don’t you just hand
the money out? This is a joke.
ARC under scrutiny
Senator asks tough questions of
Australian Research Council.
By Wade Zaglas
T
he Australian Research Council’s
practices and guidelines were
scrutinised heavily recently during
a Senate estimates hearing chaired by
Senator Kim Carr.
The committee was told that no
ARC‑funded research projects had
breached the Defence Control Act, despite
the ARC not investigating any projects.
An ARC representative said they were not
responsible for investigating suspected
breaches, a belief Carr quickly refuted.
Carr then turned to the case of a
University of Queensland (UQ) professor
whose research activities – which were
funded by the ARC – were allegedly linked
4
to the surveillance of the Uyghur population
in China.
When asked whether the ARC
investigated or “looked into the matter”,
the agency’s branch manager (policy and
strategy) Kylie Emery said: “We probably
would have looked into it, Senator.”
“I would expect any respectable agency
such as yours would have investigated it,”
Carr replied.
Carr then said that Professor Bronwyn
Harch from UQ had written to the ARC
after investigating the matter and found no
evidence of a breach.
He then asked whether the agency
had replied to UQ’s correspondence, later
finding out they had not.
“Senator, if I can just clarify, we would not
normally investigate these kinds of matters.
We would rely on the institution to look into
these matters, and we would be relying on
made by the Australian Strategic Policy
Institute (ASPI).
“Senator, we do not make a habit of
contacting news agencies or institutions,”
Emery replied.
Carr pointed out that ASPI was neither
a news agency nor an institution, but a
government-funded agency.
The ARC was also scrutinised heavily by
Carr about the agency’s $12 million Special
Research Initiative (SRI) for the humanities
that was announced by Education Minister
Dan Tehan in January.
It was revealed that guidelines for
the grants, which were developed in
consultation with advisory groups, were
published in late February and that
applications will close in late April, leaving
roughly two months for researchers to
submit applications.
“Is that enough time for applications to
be prepared?” Carr asked, to which Emery
replied: “We believe it is, Senator.”
Carr asserted that it would not be “an
easy task” preparing the applications in that
amount of time, especially when the grant’s
guidelines include provision for teaching.
Near the end of the hearing, Carr pointed
out another issue with the SRI, stating that it
sits under the linkage program.
“The linkage program, by definition,
requires you to be linked to someone, does
it not?” Carr asked.
Carr then went on to clarify that the
guidelines for the humanities SRI did not
require researchers and institutions to be
linked to anyone.
“This is a fundamental contradiction of
the program,” Carr said.
“Why don’t you just hand the money out?
This is a joke.” ■